It's almost February! Which means… time for New Years Resolutions! Right? Wait… I’m LATE? What do you mean late?

I’ve been thinking for a few months about what I wanted to get done in the next year, but life got in the way of me actually writing it out. So even though its “late” I wanted to get this post up, because it helps me to think things out, and also to feel accountable to all 2 people who read this blog. (Hi, mom!)

So, here are my goals for this year:

BE AN AWESOME WIFE AND MOTHER.That, always, is the first goal. That takes precedence. But along with doing those things, I really want to push forward in my writing and illustrating this year:

In WRITING:

Storystorm 2017Oh wait, this one is almost over? I know technically this is a challenge that takes place during the month of January. However, It’s been an incredibly fun and rewarding challenge for me--not only do I already have 32 ideas listed, I was so excited about 3 of those ideas that I already wrote rough drafts of them.

(I then later found out that one of the ideas had been recently been written and published, to be coming out in a few months. And in RHYME no less. I had the idea on my own, though (she whined). And I think I can still do something with the idea, I just need to let it roll around in my head for awhile until I know how to tweak it and make it my own.)

Anyway, I want to continue Storystorm through the year, with a goal of 100 total ideas in the year. Yeah, I did just come up with 32 in less than a month so I’m basically ⅓ there, but that was after not thinking about any or writing any down for a very long time, so I’m thinking they’ll be coming slower now.

The amazing teacher of my Childrens Book Writing class at BYU, Rick Walton, passed away recently. The first assignment for his class was to come up with 100 picture book ideas. It was an amazing class, and he was an amazing teacher and writer, and I want to get to 100 kind of in his memory. And its good to be in the habit of always looking for ideas, and then writing them down.

12x12 Challenge 2017Complete 12 picture book manuscripts in 12 months?? I’m going to give it a try--I already have three drafts, as I mentioned, so just 9 to go :-) I’ve really enjoyed participating in the 12x12 community and I’m really looking forward to the webinars--the first was AMAZING. So pumped for this year!By the end of the year, I hope to have a few manuscripts I feel good enough about to start querying agents. Which is scary, but exciting. I can do this!

In ILLUSTRATING:

Smart Dummies 2017I got my Finn’s Feet dummy put together last year thanks to this challenge, and I volunteered to help with running it this year. I hope to have a bunch of great manuscripts to choose from by the time September rolls around.

PostcardsIn 2015, my goal was to get together a portfolio I wasn’t ashamed of and then start my postcard campaign. I worked and drew, put together a portfolio I liked, and then August of that year I sent out my first postcard, featuring my Adventure image.

The month after, I found out I was pregnant. We were thrilled! But I decided it wasn’t the right time to be pushing forward with a full postcard campaign, so that was the only postcard I sent.

Well, the baby was born and is growing up and I LOVE being a mother, but it doesn’t change the fact that I love illustrating! And I would like to convince people to pay me to do it! Which brings us back to the postcards. I think it’s time. I’d like to send out 3 this year--tentatively I’m aiming for March, July, and November. It’s time to put myself out there!